A Thrift Poised to Unlock Value

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, a Philadelphia-based thrift with $5 billion in assets, has a somewhat misunderstood ownership structure that makes its shares trade at a discount.

Once 100% owned by its depositors, Beneficial (ticker: BNCL), in July 2007, sold 29% of its stock to the public. The offering made the bank a hybrid, part mutually held and part publicly traded. That structure may not exist for long, though, and as it is unwound,...